Memorial setting forth our circumstances陳情表
云云。下國有傾輸之懇。膠漆益堅。上朝加譴責之威。雷霆忽震。聞命怖悸。失聲籲號。伏念臣猥以庸資。寄于荒服。仰戴天臨之德。擧國聊生。篤馳星拱之心。嚮風滋切。夫何徵詰。若此稠重。力所不堪。宜將誠告。言如可復。當以實陳。其詔旨所及添助軍兵。征討萬奴事。繄僻土是居。弊邑本惟小國。況大軍所過。遺民能有幾人。在者尙瘡痍之餘。加之因飢疫而斃。故莫助天兵之用。無奈違帝命之嚴。罪雖莫逃。情亦可恕。其親身朝覲事。自聞啓統。早合觀光。矧外臣榮覲於九天。固所望也。然藩位難虛於一日。玆實恐焉。其出人戶。使沙里打見數事。游舌所傳。大兵將討。在愚民而易惑。擧恒產以多逃。衆所同爲。勢難固禁。顧家戶蕭然如掃。乃及爲茂草之場。若君臣孑爾獨存。懼未辦苞茅之貢。庶收殘口。永事大邦。雖潛藏江海之間。楢夢寐雲霄之上。實畏懼之所致。冀聖明之不疑。心苟一於始終。地何論於彼此。伏望云云。廓包荒之度。垂字小之仁。存蓬艾之生。儻許全於一國。奉山野之賦。必不後於諸侯。云云。
The lesser country has an earnestness it pours out in offering, firmer than glue and lacquer; yet the Imperial court has added the majesty of reproof, and the thunder has fallen all at once. Hearing the command we trembled in dread, and lost our voices as we cried out.
Prostrate, I consider that I, your servant, presumptuously of mean stuff, live attached to a rough frontier. We look up and bear upon us the virtue of Heaven's regard, and the whole country barely makes its living. The heart that turns as the stars turn toward the North Pole runs on in thickened devotion, and our facing toward the wind grows the more earnest. How then has the questioning come down so repeatedly and so heavily? Since our strength cannot bear it, it is right that we should report in sincerity; and if words may be submitted, it is right that we should set out the facts.
As to the matter your rescript names, of adding troops to attack Manno (萬奴). We live in an out-of-the-way land, and our district has always been a small country. How much more so after a great army has passed through — how many of the people are left? Those who remain are the remnant of the wounded, and on top of that they have died of hunger and pestilence. Therefore we could not assist the employment of the Heavenly army, and could not but go against the Emperor's stern command. The guilt is not to be escaped, but the circumstances too may be pardoned.
As to the matter of coming in person to court. Ever since we heard that the great succession had been opened, we ought to have gone early to present ourselves. How much more is it that an outer vassal should go up to the ninefold palace and behold its radiance — truly this is what we desire. Yet it is hard to leave the post of the hedge empty even for a day, and this is what we truly fear.
As to the matter of sending out the people to show their number to Sartai (沙里打). Wandering tongues passed it about that a great army was about to attack. Foolish folk are easily deluded; they abandoned their livelihoods and fled in numbers. It was a thing done by the multitude together, and by the force of it hard to hold back. We looked about, and household after household was desolate as if swept clean, and became at last a yard overgrown with weeds. Were the ruler and his officers left alone, we feared we should not be able to make ready so much as a tribute of bound thatch. We wished to gather the people who remained and serve the great country long. Though we have hidden between the river and the sea, still in our dreams we long for what is above the clouded sky. Truly it was fear that brought this about, and we hope that the holy and enlightened one will not doubt us. If the heart is indeed one from beginning to end, why reckon whether the ground be here or there?
Prostrate we hope: broaden the magnanimity that embraces even the coarse, and let down the benevolence that cherishes a small country. If you give life to these mugwort-frail lives and make a whole country sound again, then in bearing up and offering the tribute of our hills and fields we shall surely not fall behind the several feudal lords.
Interlinear notes 1
中謝
Here the words of thanks (中謝) are inserted.